5 Companies Using Intelligent Automation to Improve Performance
From sales and data analysis to marketing and project management, intelligent automation is boosting efficiency across businesses by taking over several time-consuming and repetitive tasks.
As such, many companies are embracing intelligent automation to support their employees and boost the customer experience. Not only this, but many have found themselves forced to scale up on automation; otherwise, risk falling behind their competitors.
And this increase in technology and automation doesn’t look set to slow down any time soon.
This is because recent breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and other automation tools mean that these technologies can take on increasingly sophisticated tasks.
Because of this, more and more companies are harnessing the potential of intelligent automation to improve the performance of their business.
However, if you’re unaware of the benefits of automation and how these technologies can be used, we’re here to enlighten you.
Below, we’re going to look at the types of intelligent automation companies are using to drive their teams and profit margins forward.
What is intelligent automation?
Before we look at the intelligent automation companies are using specifically, it’s useful to give a quick definition of what intelligent automation actually is. This will ensure we’re all on the same page as we move through the rest of the guide.
Intelligent automation is not just one thing. Rather, it is a combination of technologies, including robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI), amongst others, that work together to create automation capabilities that can assist humans with repetitive tasks.
Primarily, this is done by combining rule-based automation with decision-making capabilities. This then allows machines to mimic tasks once carried out by employees and to understand context, learn and perform the required actions.
Intelligent automation is useful for boosting efficiency, cutting operational costs, improving the customer experience and more. So, as you can see, this can have a huge number of benefits to businesses.
But more on these as we progress.
The types of intelligent automation companies may be using
We’re almost ready to look at the intelligent automation companies are using specifically. But first, we’re going to address the more generic ways in which companies can improve their processes with intelligent automation.
This will help us to build on our understanding of the benefits of intelligent automation.
So, if you’re unsure how these technologies are being used on daily, check out the following:
Eliminating mundane administration tasks
Administrative tasks are unavoidable in most roles and as such, these can take up a lot of an employee’s time. But with the help of intelligent automation companies are increasingly automating these repetitive tasks so they do not require manual input from a human (apart from the occasional anomaly).
For example, some time-consuming, repetitive tasks that are often automated include:
- Data entry
- Event registrations
- Invoice reminders
- Backing up files
- Payroll
- Extracting data from online forms
By automating these activities, frees up more of your employee’s time to think creatively and drive innovation. What’s more, it also speeds up these processes making the whole business function more efficiently.
Data analysis and predictions
In today’s digital world, data is what keeps businesses afloat. This data can be used to offer insightful information and analysis. Some examples of how businesses might use intelligent automation for data analysis and predictions regularly include:
- Sales forecasting
- End-to-end project management
- Goal measuring and progress reports
- Analyzing marketing campaigns
- Monitoring web and social media traffic
These automated processes make it much easier for businesses to set and measure their goals. These also make it possible to spot areas of strength and weakness, to see which ideas are working and which need to be improved or scrapped.
Boosting the customer experience
Lastly, there are several ways that intelligent automation not only benefits the business but also the customers. Often, this can be an overlooked benefit and important use of these tools. But once in place, intelligent automation can have a really positive impact.
Some of the intelligent automation companies are using to boost their customer experience include:
- Online forms that are immediately submitted and translated
- Chatbots and virtual assistants making it possible to support customers quicker and outside standard office hours
- Voice-activated solutions over the phone
- Scheduling and sharing content all day, not just within office hours (for example, social media scheduling tools)
- Reduced handling time for requests or products
- Categorising emails and calls so they are sent directly to the right department
Now, this is not a full list, but as you can see from this, there are some clear ways that the benefits of these technologies trickle down to improve the overall customer experience.
Examples of how big-name companies are using intelligent automation
Finally, the time has come to look at some case studies in more detail. Below we’ve pulled together a list of five well-known companies from a range of sectors that use intelligent automation in some different ways to help them drive their business forward.
Here they are:
1. Unilever
Multinational consumer goods company, Unilever, applies automation to a number of its business functions. But in this case, we’re going to focus on intelligent automation for recruitment. Using AI, the team Unilever was able to save £1 million in one year on their recruitment strategy, as well as cutting time to hire by as much as 90%.
This was done through sophisticated machine learning algorithms and technologies such as natural language processing (NLP), which was used for analyzing speech patterns and vocabulary during virtual interviews.
2. HSBC
The banking and financial organization HSBC wanted to boost workplace performance and productivity, with the overall aim of improving shareholder returns and enhancing customer service.
In order to do this, they implemented intelligent automation strategies across the company.
In the past, many of their administrative tasks had been manual and cumbersome, especially when it came to HR processes. These had become complex, and many employees struggled to find the information they needed quickly.
Through integration, data mapping, and other relevant automated systems, they were able to make life much easier for their employees.
This, in turn, freed up their time to better support and offer advice to customers and improve the overall customer experience.
3. Alibaba
Chinese retail giant Alibaba is the world’s largest e-commerce platform, which means intelligent automation is an integral part of daily operations. Alibaba has lots of side projects that also rely on automation, but some of the most important ways it relies on this technology for retail is through shipping, logistics, predictions, and descriptions.
For example, using NLP, the website can automatically generate product descriptions for clients. They also use analytics to predict what customers might want to buy based on past decisions.
4. TUI
TUI is one of the world’s leading tourism groups and they believe that from the moment you step into their store to the moment you get home from your holiday, it is all part of the holiday experience. As such, they wanted to empower their workers, so they were better prepared to respond to and support customers in real-time.
In order to offer this great customer experience, they established a 24/7, single point of contact IT service desk across a number of destinations. They have also created self-service portals to allow travelers to take control of their trip, cut queueing times, and have a seamless holiday experience.
5. Generali
Last on our list is Generali, the global insurance company. With so many customers to take care of and the aim of expanding further, they wanted a way to achieve greater efficiency and collaboration across the business.
In order to do this, they implemented automation in many of their core systems so they could streamline their processes from start to finish.
For example, they used these tools to improve end-to-end insurance customer experience, whether that’s taking out a new policy or making a claim.
The intelligent automation companies are using most frequently
As you can see from the examples above, there are lots of ways in which companies are using intelligent automation. For example, chatbots, virtual assistants, automated data entry, and file backups.
And these are just some of the important automated tools used to make things easier and more efficient.
More crucially, these different technologies are being used to:
- Eliminate the need to do mundane administration tasks
- Empower employees and free up their time for creativity and innovation
- Analyze data and make predictions for future success
- Boost the customer experience from start to finish
- Make business functions more efficient and cost-effective
And although we used big-name examples such as Unilever and TUI in our examples, intelligent automation isn’t limited to big companies.
No matter the size of your business, there are multiple ways you can benefit from these technologies.
Related posts
If you’d like to know more about intelligent automation and look at some more examples of how this works, check out our related articles below: